Clinical and Statistical Characteristics of Seeking Dental Care by Patients Needing Dental Implantation

INTRODUCTION: To work out effective organizational and managerial decisions, it is important to obtain and analyze clinical and statistical characteristics of seeking dental care by patients needing dental implantation. AIM: To analyze the clinical and statistical characteristics of seeking dental care by patients needing dental implantation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The sociological study involved 306 patients with acquired bounded and end edentulous spaces, which can be restored with dental implants. The mean age of the patients was 43.4±13.7 years. Placement of dental implants was performed in the private dental clinic ООО DK-32. The gender composition of the respondents was characterized by the predominance of women over men 66.0% versus 34.0%. In general, the respondents aged 30–39 and 40–49 years constituted the largest groups — 30.1% and 25.5% respectively. RESULTS: It was found that all surveyed patients had previously sought dental care. The overwhelming majority of them reported that they needed tooth extraction (98.7 per 100 respondents), had edentulous defects and needed prosthetics (99.0). To note, a significant part of patients turned to a dentist for preventive examination 75.8 per 100 respondents. Less often, correction of dentition deformities and of dental occlusion (20.3 per 100 respondents) and treatment of periodontal diseases (15.7 per 100 examined patients) were needed. At the same time, 92.2 per 100 respondents turned to a dentist for the presence of a carious cavity in a tooth or a visible hard tissue defect of non-carious origin, 85.6 for appearance of pain and only 14.4 when the first signs of the disease were noted. The main reasons for choosing a dental organization were a high quality of medical care (92.2 per 100 respondents), attentive attitude of personnel (83.0), good equipment (79.7). The conditions of stay in a medical organization (68.6) and the absence of queues (68.0) also mattered. The obtained results show a variety of reasons for patients to seek dental care as well as their preferences when choosing a medical organization of dental profile. CONCLUSION: In order to work out organizational and managerial decisions adequate to the situation, it is necessary to take into account the clinical and statistical characteristics of patients seeking dental care, identifying those in need of dental implantation as an effective method of rehabilitation of patients with dental defects.